INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY COULD BE EVERY DAY.
International Women’s Day (IWD), this year, falls on Wednesday 8th March. IWD, observed since the early 1900’s, is a globally significant day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women. It’s a fabulous thing.
International Women’s Day 2023 – And Kiverco.
This got us thinking. Here at Kiverco, where might we find an inspirational woman? A woman that is driving change across our industry. A woman that, if born in America 115 years ago, might just have joined the 15,000 IWD pioneers marching through New York in 1908, demanding fair working hours, pay and representation for all? Someone that balances treating people right and doing things right, pretty much every day of the week? Where might we find someone like that?
Ah! That’ll be Kiverco Director and Owner, Anne McKiver.
Challenging Norms.
In 2010, women represented 10% of the workforce in engineering. In 2021 it was 16%.* So things are improving. At Kiverco right now, we’re just above average. And because ‘average’ is far from one of our favourite words, in just the same way as we are driving our Industry with the predictable performance of our recycling plant, we’re also exploring driving, where it is practical and relevant, gender parity.
Making A Difference.
Anne has for a long time made sure that Kiverco engages with and supports educational institutions across Northern Ireland. Gender as a theme is always there. Girls and women in engineering are spoken about and highlighted. Just this week, Emma and Kerry joined the Kiverco team (welcome!)
At Kiverco, team member retention in key positions is high. Anne builds great teams. Anne does this at a fundamental level by doing what all the best leaders do, really. Listening. Taking the time to see how people feel. Knowing people’s names and backgrounds. It gets trickier as the Kiverco team passses 100 people. But it still always happens.
IWD Influence At Kiverco Is Here Already.
At the end of 2022, Anne penned an open letter on the subject of Step Change at Kivero. Anne’s business has gone from local to global. Kiverco is winning projects bigger than ever. And broadening demands in terms of the toughness and performance of Kiverco machinery gets ever more vivid.
Connected to all of this, the way Anne has us think about gender and inclusivity of every kind in the workplace is not only an every-day-of-the-year notion. It is two fold.
IWD Influence At Kiverco
The broader the diversity of any kind, in any workplace, the broader the benefit to everybody. That includes, gender, ethnicity, able bodied or otherwise – and more. How else can we understand all people, if our own team is not as representative as it can be of all people? The IWD Theme for 2023 is #EmbraceEquality, by the way. Neat!
So, as the International Women’s Day Website states – and we agree – a world free of bias, stereotype and discrimination, is a better one. Let’s see what our team, led by Anne, can do to help not just today.
But every day.
To mark this special day, Caitriona, HR Manager organised a special tea party for the female employees in Kiverco to celebrate their hard work and commitment to the company.
